IC-NRLF 


SB 


ROSE   COIOTKD    CELERY 


&* 


No.    1. 


HOW  TO  CULTIVATE  AND  PRESERVE 

CELERY. 

BY    THEOPHILUS    KOESSLE, 


OP    THE    DEMfHH    HOUSE,    AIDANT,    N.     T. 

FREE  LIBRA* 


A  PREFACE, 
BY    HENKY    S.    OLCOTT. 


ALBANY  : 

THEOPHILUS  ROESSLE,  DELAVAN  HOUSE. 
NEW  YORK  :    C.  M.  SAXTON,  BARKER  &  COMPANY. 

AND    BY    ALL    BOOKSELLERS. 
1860. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860, 
BY   THEOPHILUS   ROESSLE, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Northern  District  of  New  York. 


MUNSELL    &   ROWLAND,    PRINTERS, 
ALBANY. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

PREFACE,      -  iii 

SUMMER  CELERY,  -              27 

Varieties,  29 

Preparing  the  hot-beds,  -      31 

Watering  the  beds,  35 

Airing  the  plants,  -               38 

Hoeing  the  beds,  42 

Transplanting,     -  43 

Preparing  the  trenches,  -                            48 

Hoeing,  -      53 

Banking,  58 

Digging  the  crop,  -      66 

Preparing  for  use,     -  -         -         -          67 


M741493 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 

WINTER  CELERY,  -  71 

Preparing  the  ground,  73 

Sowing  and  hoeing,  -  76 

How  and  when  to  bury,  -  79 

Covering  for  the  winter,  -  85 

Digging  for  use,  90 

OTHER  HAND-BOOKS,  -  95 

Potatoes,  97 

Corn,  -  -  98 

Cauliflowers,  -  99 

Cabbage,  -  -  99 

Turnips, 100 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Rose-Colored  Celery,    -  -     Front. 

White  Celery,  -         -        -27 

Diseased  Celery,  &$ 

Illustrations  of  Treatment,      -  70 

Fig.  1,  Celery  in  Trenches. 

2,  Size  at  First  Hoeing. 

3,  First  Banking. 

4,  Slope  of  Hill. 

5,  Buried  for  Winter. 

6,  Second  Banking. 


PREFACE 


PREFACE. 


In  every  business,  trade  and  profession, 
we  see  some  men,  who,  with  no  better 
chances  than  their  neighbors,  somehow 
thrive  and  grow  rich ;  while  others  fail. 
The  unfortunate  ones,  unconscious  of  the 
real  causes  of  their  disappointment,  think 
themselves  the  victims  of  malign  influ- 
ences, and  bewail  their  bad  luck.  The 
sober  sense  of  the  world,  however,  judging 
impartially  in  the  case,  decides  that  the 
successful  man  has  conquered  his  fortune 
by  being  industrious,  economical,  observ- 
ing ;  by  a  straight  forward  and  persistent 


IV  PREFACE. 

policy,  and  by  using  foresight  and  good 
judgment. 

True  as  this  is  in  all  occupations,  there 
is  none,  perhaps,  to  which  the  rule  will 
apply  with  more  certainty  than  that  of 
market-gardening.  Almost  every  vegeta- 
ble which  we  use  has  been  produced,  by 
skill  and  care,  from  an  inferior,  wild- 
growing  plant,  and  there  is  a  constant 
tendency  to  revert  or  fall  back  to  that  ori- 
ginal condition ;  a  result  which  we  prevent 
only  by  the  diligent  use  of  skillful  treat- 
ment. Thus  it  is  with  the  potato,  the 
tomato,  asparagus,  rhubarb,  celery;  and 
when  we  come  to  fruits,  we  find  the  same 
rule  applying  to  the  apple,  peach,  plum, 
pear,  and  others.  The  regular  processes 
of  nature  have  been  changed  by  man  for 
his  own  purpose,  and  plants,  trees,  and 


PREFACE.  V 

even  animals  have  been  forced  to  develop 
to  excess  the  parts  most  suitable  for 
human  food,  at  the  expense  of  those  the 
least  valuable.  Thus  the  apple  and  peach, 
which  in  their  original  wild  state  aimed 
only  to  produce  their  seed,  have  by  art  been 
made  to  surround  that  seed  with  a  mass 
of  pulp,  which  is  made  greater  in  quantity, 
and  more  luscious  in  flavor,  according  to 
the  treatment  we  bestow  upon  the  trees. 
Asparagus,  in  its  natural  state  a  sea-side 
grass,  spindling  in  size  and  useless  for 
food,  has  when  transplanted  into  the  gar- 
den and  carefully  cultivated  been  made 
to  produce  thick,  tender,  succulent  stalks, 
and  is  now  one  of  our  most  delicious 
vegetables.  So  with  celery.  In  its  wild 
state,  in  which  it  is  found  in  ditches 
throughout  Europe,  it  is  rank,  coarse,  and 


VI  PREFACE. 

even  poisonous,  but  by  cultivation  it 
becomes  crisp,  sweet,  juicy,  and  of  an 
agreeable  flavor.  Turning  to  the  animal 
kingdom,  we  see  our  domestic  cow,  which 
otherwise  would  secrete  only  enough  milk 
to  suckle  her  young  and,  this  accomplished, 
go  dry  the  rest  of  the  year,  made  by  the 
art  of  man  to  yield  for  her  owner  ten, 
twenty,  and  sometimes  even  more  quarts 
of  milk  daily.  And  in  the  matter  of  beef 
production,  we  see  how  the  intelligent 
labors  of  Colling,  Bates,  Quartly,  Turner, 
and  their  compeers,  have  resulted  in  the 
production  of  animals  which  convert  their 
food  almost  entirely  into  the  most  valua- 
ble portions  of  meat. 

Again,  we  must  remember  that  many 
of  our  common  vegetables  are  natives  of 
tropical  or  very  warm  climates ;  in  which 


PREFACE.  Vll 

they  run  through  all  the  stages  of  growth 
unchecked  by  frost  or  cold,  and  are  planted 
by  nature  in  the  very  soils  which  are  best 
adapted  to  produce  their  fruit  in  greatest 
luxuriance.  From  these  favorable  climes 
they  have  been  brought  to  struggle  with 
our  changeful  seasons,  and  are  often 
planted  on  soils  in  every  way  unsuited  to 
them.  If,  therefore,  we  expect  them  to 
not  only  do  as  well  but  much  better  than 
they  did  at  home,  it  is  but  fair  to  suppose 
that  we  must  give  them  extraordinary 
attention,  and  by  our  vigilance  avert  the 
ill  effects  of  sudden  alterations  of  tem- 
perature. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  understand, 
from  these  illustrations,  that  if  we  would 
control  the  laws  of  nature  to  work  for  our 
profit  we  must  exercise  a  diligence  and  skill 


Vlll  PKEFACE. 

and  give  an  attention  to  minor  details, 
more  unremitting  as  the  desired  result  is 
of  importance  to  us,  and  in  contravention 
to  the  ordinary  course  of  Nature.  The 
skillful  gardener  not  only  maintains  but 
continually  improves  the  quality  of  his 
vegetables,  and  by  a  close  study  of  the 
laws  of  their  growth,  is  enabled  to  origin- 
ate, or  create,  new  and  better  varieties. 

It  needs  but  a  cursory  glance  at  the 
nature  of  celery  to  make  us  see  why  it  has 
been  so  difficult  a  matter  to  raise  it  of  the 
best  quality,  and  keep  it  sound  as  long  as 
we  choose  to  send  it  to  market.  Sow  the 
seed  and  leave  it  to  itself  and  the  plant  will 
grow  rank,  with  abundance  of  leaves,  its 
stalks  all  green,  except  a  little  portion  at 
the  heart,  and  in  due  season  it  produces 
its  seed  abundantly.  But  we  want  its 


PREFACE.  IX 

stalks  to  blanch  and  become  crisp,  and 
attain  as  great  a  length  as  possible.  So 
we  transplant  it  when  a  few  inches  high, 
and  when  the  stalks  have  grown  awhile 
we  surround  them  with  earth.  The  plant 
thus  hemmed  in,  and  having  no  access  to 
the  sunlight  except  at  the  top,  pushes 
upward,  as  a  man  confined  in  a  narrow 
tube  would  struggle  upward  to  get  free, 
and  the  juices  not  being  acted  upon  by 
sunlight,  the  chlorophyll,  or  green  color- 
ing matter,  is  not  elaborated,  and  the 
stalks  grow  white.  Does  any  one  suppose 
that  when  a  plant  is  thus  surrounded  with 
earth  it  is  as  little  liable  to  disease,  as 
when  exposed  to  the  air  in  its  natural 
state  ?  The  stalk  is  composed  of  a  fragile 
cellular  structure  which  abounds  with 

watery  juice,  in  which,  besides  other  in- 
2 


X  PREFACE. 

gradients  there  is  a  small  proportion  of 
sugar  in  solution.  So  long  as  a  certain 
temperature  is  maintained,  with  only  a 
given  density  of  soil,  air  and  heat  will  be 
supplied  to  the  stalks  in  such  proportion 
that  the  plant  remains  in  health,  and  its 
growth  is  unimpeded.  In  this  case  the 
only  change  from  a  state  of  Nature  is  that 
the  green  coloring  matter  is  not  elabo- 
rated, and  the  stalk  grows  white.  But 
once  pass  this  point  and  what  is  the  re- 
sult ?  Shut  out  from  air  and  light,  sodden 
with  earthy  water  in  which  it  is  forced 
to  grow,  the  stalk  becomes  unhealthy,  its 
sugar  changes  to  acid,  the  woody  tissues 
are  burned  or  rusted,  decay  and  then 
decomposition  ensues.  In  other  words, 
there  is  a  certain  definite  quantity  of  air 
and  light  required  by  a  celery  plant  to 


PREFACE*  XI 

preserve  a  state  of  health,  the  delicate 
tissues  of  its  stalk  will  withstand  only  a 
limited  amount  of  maltreatment,  and  the 
exact  processes  of  culture  which  we  must 
pursue  to  secure  a  good  crop  of  Celery  and 
keep  it  afterwards,  can  only  be  learnt  by 
long  experience  in  the  business. 

We  frequently  see  men  engage  in  the 
business  of  vegetable  growing  without  the 
slightest  intelligent  idea  of  the  nature  of 
plants,  without  patience  and  industrious 
habits,  and  with  so  little  common  sense 
as  to  expect  large  and  good  crops  without 
manure  or  high  culture.  These,  and  their, 
number  is  very  great,  are  the  ones  who 
fail,  and  bewail  their  luck,  and  grow  poor 
and  poorer,  and  finally  sink  to  the  condi- 
tion of  hired  laborers  for  their  more  clever 
neighbors.  These  are  the  men  who  find 


xii 


PREFACE. 


their  soils  "not  suited  to  cauliflowers,"  so 
little  in  fact,  that  out  of  every  thousand 
plants  they  get  a  bare  half  dozen  of  mark- 
etable heads.  If  they  attempt  a  crop  of 
onions,  they  somehow  get  nothing  but 
scullions.  Their  turnips  and  radishes  get 
pithy  and  worthless.  Their  cabbages  will 
not  head.  Their  beets,  parsnips,  and  car- 
rots, grow  spindling  roots,  and  they  pour 
upon  the  heads  of  their  seedsmen  every 
invective  and  malediction.  It  is  in  vain 
that  they  are  told  that  the  seed  from  the 
same  bag  has  produced  splendid  crops  in 
a  number  of  instances ;  they  know  that 
the  seedsman  is  lying,  or  at  any  rate  that 
some  extraordinarily  favorable  circum- 
stances must  have  attended  the  other 
cultivators.  If  they  set  out  an  orchard, 
their  trees  grow  poorer  than  those  of  other 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

men,  and  when  they  should  rejoice  in  a 
crop,  get  nothing  but  faggot  wood.  The 
same  "bad  luck"  enters  their  stables  and 
styes,  in  the  form  of  disease  and  accident 
to  their  occupants. 

Such  a  man  is  not  Mr.  THEOPHILUS 
ROESSLE,  the  author  of  this  little  pamphlet ; 
as  a  sketch  of  his  personal  experience  will 
abundantly  show. 

Born  near  Stuttgardt,  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Wirtemberg,  and  the  son  of  a  market- 
gardener  and  vigneron,  he  learnt  the 
habits  and  cultivation  of  plants  from  his 
very  boyhood.  The  plow,  spade,  hoe  and 
pruning-knife  were  made  familiar  to  him 
in  turn,  as  he  became  large  enough  to  be 
of  service  on  the  farm ;  and,  like  all  the 
children  in  that  kingdom,  he  got  a  good 
education.  In  1825,  he  came  to  this 


XIV  PREFACE. 

country  a  mere  stripling.  With  another 
lad  he  found  his  way  to  Kochester,  but  at 
TJtica  the  baggage  of  both  was  lost,  and 
they  were  left  penniless  in  a  land  of 
strangers.  The  companion  sickened  and 
died  in  Rochester,  and  young  Roessle, 
dispirited  and  careworn,  painfully  trudged 
back  on  foot  to  Utica,  in  the  bare  hope  of 
recovering  his  lost  trunk.  It  was  a  boot- 
less errand,  however,  and  so  he  turned 
his  face  toward  Albany  again.  For  many 
a  weary  day  he  walked  in  his  worn  shoes, 
without  a  change  of  raiment  to  his  back, 
or  a  penny  in  his  pocket,  a  strange  lad  in 
a  country  where  he  could  not  make  his 
commonest  wants  understood  except  by 
signs.  He  arrived  at  length,  foot-sore 
and  weary,  at  the  last  toll-gate  on  the 
Schenectady  turnpike,  and  when  he  was 


PREFACE.  XV 

speculating  on  his  chances  for  a  breakfast, 
a  farmer  drove  his  team  up  to  the  tavern 
door,  and  beckoning  the  young  lad  to  him 
got  him  to  hold  the  horses  while  he  went 
in  to  his  breakfast.  For  this  service  he 
gave  Eoessle  a  sixpence,  and  that  money 
was  the  corner-stone  of  a  fortune. 

Arrived  in  Albany,  he  met  a  little  girl 
selling  matches,  and  enquiring  of  her  for 
her  father,  was  led  to  a  dirty  room  in  a 
dirty  street,  where  the  girl's  father,  an  old 
Swiss,  the  wife,  and  several  children  slept 
on  straw.  Eoessle  obtained  the  privilege 
of  a  night's  lodging,  and  the  next  morning, 
finding  that  a  few  inches  of  snow  had  fallen 
through  the  night,  he  borrowed  a  shovel 
of  the  old  main  and  went  out  to  earn  some 
money.  He  made  a  dollar  and  a  half 
that  day;  and  the  next  earned  a  like 


XVI  PREFACE. 

sum  by  sawing,  splitting,  and  piling  some 
fire-wood.  He  then  got  a  job  of  sawing  a 
dozen  cords  for  an  old  Dutch  Dominie, 
and  while  at  this  work  the  attention  of 
old  Dr.  Peter  Wendell  being  attracted  to 
the  diligence  of  the  lad,  a  bargain  was 
struck  by  which  Koessle  was  to  have  his 
board,  two  suits  of  clothes,  and  forty 
dollars  in  cash  per  annum,  in  return 
for  sweeping  out  the  Doctor's  office,  and 
riding  his  rounds  with  him.  He  was  thus 
employed  nearly  four  years,  but  then  went 
out  to  a  farm  on  the  Western  Turnpike, 
which  he  leased  for  a  term  of  years  from 
his  employer.  He  now  commenced  his 
market-gardening  on  a  small  scale,  feeling 
his  way  and  using  his  little  capital  to  the 
best  advantage.  An  English  landscape- 
gardener,  named  Sears,  took  board  with 


PREFACE.  XV11 

him,  and  Eoessle  employed  the  op- 
portunity afforded  by  the  long  winter 
evenings  to  learn  as  much  of  Sears' s 
beautiful  profession  as  he  could.  In 
spring  he  was  employed  to  lay  out  the 
place  of  Mr.  John  Prentice,  and  the  work 
was  so  well  done  that  a  number  of  lucra- 
tive jobs  were  in  succession  offered  to  and 
executed  by  him.  Joining  the  two  trades 
together,  working  hard  early  and  late,  and 
living  with  the  strictest  frugality,  Koessle 
accumulated  property  by  slow  degrees  and 
bettered  his  circumstances.  The  quality 
of  his  vegetables  became  at  last  so  well 
known,  that  his  marketing  business  in- 
creased until  he  was  forced  to  abandon 
landscape-gardening  altogether. 

Celery  was  his  heaviest  crop,  for  he  not 

only  retailed,  and  jobbed  it  out  in  Albany, 
3 


XV111  PREFACE. 

but  sold  it  at  wholesale  to  other  gardeners, 
and  supplied  Washington  and  Fulton  mar- 
kets in  New  York,  the  River  boats,  Sara- 
toga hotels,  the  Catskill  Mountain  House, 
and  the  city  of  Schenectady.  From  1835  to 
1840  he  sold  an  average  of  one  thousand 
bunches  a  day.  As  he  says  himself,  he  could 
raise  perhaps  as  fine  a  crop  of  celery  then 
as  he  has  been  able  to  during  the  past  few 
years,  but  as  he  could  never  succeed  in 
keeping  it  over  winter,  he  was  no  better 
oflf  than  his  neighbors.  It  was  only  after 
failures,  losses,  and  disappointments,  that 
he  discovered  the  simple  expedients  de- 
tailed in  this  little  work;  and  he  estimates 
that  it  has  cost  him  between  nine  and 
ten  thousand  dollars  to  acquire  the 
knowledge  which  the  reader  gets  in  the 
succeeding  pages  for  an  hundred  cents. 


PREFACE.  XIX 

It  is  only  within  ten  years  that  he 
has  had  partial,  and  within  four  years 
absolute,  success  in  keeping  celery  sound 
and  good  throughout  the  winter  and  even 
as  late  as  the  month  of  May.  A  record 
of  the  successive  failures  which  he  has 
had,  would  doubtless  cover  the  separate 
experiences  of  a  score  of  celery  growers ; 
and  if  only  a  portion  of  them  be  given  at 
this  time,  it  is  for  the  reason  that  it  does 
not  matter  so  much  what  he  has  gone 
through,  as  that  he  now  succeeds,  and  can 
tell  his  readers  how  to  do  likewise. 

Mr.  Roessle's  gardening  was  first  on 
seven  acres,  but  as  his  sales  increased  he 
leased  adjoining  places,  and  got  up  suc- 
cessively to  fifty,  and  finally  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  acres.  For  two  acres  of 
ground  which  he  wished  to  use  for  celery 


XX  PREFACE. 

growing,  he  paid  an  annual  rent  of  fifty  dol- 
lars per  acre — and  made  money  at  even  that 
price.  He  usually  raised  twenty-five  to 
thirty  acres  of  potatoes,  and  sometimes 
fifty ;  five  of  radishes,  five  or  six  of  peas, 
fifty  to  sixty  thousand  heads  of  celery,  and 
all  the  ordinary  vegetables  in  various  quan- 
tities. In  1836  he  spent  a  winter  at  his 
home  in  Stuttgardt,  and  in  so  doing  spent 
all  his  money,  except  a  bare  hundred 
dollars  with  which  he  got  back  to  Albany. 
His  credit  was  so  good  that  he  had  no 
trouble  to  get  what  land  he  needed,  and 
so  he  went  to  work  again  in  good  earnest. 
That  year  there  was  a  severe  drouth  in 
Southern  New  York,  and  vegetables  were 
very  scarce  and  very  dear  in  market. 
Eoessle,  with  characteristic  shrewdness, 
bought  up  all  the  crops  about  him  in 


PREFACE.  XXI 

advance,  and  from  their  sale  and  that  of 
his  own  produce,  realized  a  clear  profit  of 
$2,000.  This  made  him  again  a  free  man, 
and  he  has  kept  so  ever  since. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  his 
present  knowledge  has  been  obtained  after 
many  unfortunate  failures.  As  a  case  in 
point,  he  mentions  the  fact  that  he  once 
hired  the  cellars  of  three  large  grain  ware- 
houses, at  a  rent  of  about  $200,  with  a 
view  to  storing  his  celery  throughout 
winter.  He  carefully  carried  the  plants 
a  full  mile  from  his  farm  to  the  cellars, 
carted  in  his  dirt,  and  counted  upon  his 
prospective  profits  to  meet  certain  heavy 
expenses.  Alas  for  his  calculation!  the 
whole  crop,  which  should  have  netted  him 
over  $2,000,  was  a  dead  loss,  and  he  had 
to  cart  his  dirt  "to  the  place  whence  it 


XX11  PREFACE. 

came;"  thus  not  only  losing  his  crop 
outright,  but  being  forced  to  "throw  good 
money  after  bad/'  in  cleaning  out  the 
cellars,  which  had  done  all  the  damage. 

Another  time  he  built  an  outdoor  cellar, 
or  pit,  and  buried  in  it  35,000  bunches, 
laying  them  down  and  overlapping  the 
tops;  the  whole  mass  rotted  in  less  than 
three  weeks.  Again  he  put  some  12,000 
bunches  into  drills  on  the  south  side  of  a 
fence,  covering  each  drill  with  a  double- 
pitch  roof  of  boards ;  but  to  no  avail,  for 
his  crop  was  not  saved.  And  so  by 
degrees  he  went  on,  learning  one  thing 
one  season,  another  the  next,  and  at  last 
learning  the  whole  secret  of  celery  grow- 
ing, as  set  forth  in  these  pages.  Last 
year  Mr.  Roessle  had  a  crop  so  fine  that 
a  single  head  weighed  six  and  a  half 


PREFACE.  XX111 

pounds,  the  stalks  four  feet  in  length, 
three  feet  of  which  was  white  and  to  use 
the  expression  which  I  recently  heard, 
"  as  clear  as  a  lily."  The  quality  seems  to 
have  been  appreciated  by  the  guests  of 
the  Delavan  House,  for  twelve  thousand 
heads  have  been  eaten  at  its  tables  within 
the  past  ninety  days.  It  is  to  be  found 
on  the  table,  I  am  told,  from  July  until 
the  following  May,  and  of  almost  uniform 
quality  throughout. 

As  will  be  seen  in  another  place,  Mr. 
Eoessle  has  yielded  to  repeated  solicita- 
tions, and  announces  several  pamphlets 
to  follow  the  present  one.  It  is  intended 
to  make  a  series,  each  pamphlet  devqted 
to  some  special  vegetable,  and  to  that 
alone,  giving  not  so  much  chemical  theories 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

or  useless  speculations,  as  the  plain  un- 
varnished description  of  his  own  prac- 
tical experience.  To  be  sure  he  has  his 
own  theory  as  to  the  cause  of  potato-rot, 
and  as  to  the  action  of  manures,  or  the 
growth  of  plants ;  and  while  he  may  in 
stating  his  views  run  counter  to  the  popu- 
lar notions  of  the  day,  he  hopes  the  public 
will  not,  in  combating  the  shadows  he 
throws,  lose  sight  of  the  important  sub- 
stance contained  in  his  experiments. 

So  far  as  the  Editor  is  personally  con- 
cerned, he  wishes  it  understood  that  his 
office  is  to  prepare  the  matter  for  the 
press,  not  to  construct  or  correct  the 
theories  of  the  author ;  and  he  hopes  to 
have  the  good  taste  to  forbear  from  mar- 
ring, by  interlineations  or  foot-notes,  the 


PREFACE.  XXV 

force  of  those  peculiar  views,  even  though 
they  might  in  some  instances  widely 
differ  from  his  own. 

The  personal  experience  of  Mr.  Roessle 
has  been  sketched  at  some  length  for  two 
reasons.  First:  He  is  a  successful  man, 
who  first  made  enough  money  at  market- 
gardening  to  warrant  his  leasing  a  large 
hotel,  and  since  then  has  built  up  a  for- 
tune. Second  :  Because  we  have  already 
had  too  many  agricultural  books  written, 
and  journals  edited,  by  men  of  little  or  no 
practical  experience,  who  are  thus  unsafe 
preceptors  for  the  confiding  reader.  When 
we  know  that  this  book  on  celery  con- 
denses into  its  score  or  two  of  pages  the 
practical  experience  of  twenty- five  years, 
we  are  compelled  to  listen  respectfully  to 
the  directions  which  it  gives  for  our  own 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

practice ;  and  when  we  give  our  own  gar- 
dener orders  to  treat  the  celery  after  a 
given  fashion  at  a  given  stage  of  growth, 
we  are  able  to  prophecy  what  results  will 
follow,  by  turning  over  a  few  more  leaves 
of  our  little  manual  and  reading  what  its 
experienced  author  says. 

The  other  hand-books  of  this  series  will 
appear  as  rapidly  as  circumstances  may 

permit. 

H.  S.  0. 

New  York,  March,  1860. 


large 


WHITE 


Joint 


CELERY. 


SUMMER   CELERY. 


SUMMEE   CELERY. 


VARIETIES. 

After  an  experience  of  many  years,  with 
a  great  number  of  varieties  of  celery,  I 
have  narrowed  my  list  to  the  following 
few  kinds  which  I  recommend  as  most 
profitable  for  general  cultivation : 

No.  1.  Early  White  Solid. 

No.  2.  Joint  do 

No.  3.  New  Silver  Leaf. 

No.  4.  Red  Solid,  or  Rose-colored. 

No.  5.  Celeriac — or  Turnip-rooted. 

The  varieties  1,  2,  and  4  are  best.  I 
recommend  number  1  for  an  early,  and 


30  CELERY. 

number  2  for  the  main  crop.  There  are 
doubtless  other  kinds  which  under  peculiar 
circumstances  are  valuable,  but  none  I 
think  which  in  every  respect  are  so 
valuable,  both  to  the  market-gardener 
and  the  private  cultivator,  as  those  above 
mentioned. 


CELERY.  31 


PREPARING  THE  HOT-BEDS. 

The  hot-beds  should  be  made  ready  for 
the  reception  of  the  seed  as  early  as  the 
first  day  of  March,  in  this  latitude.  I  do 
not  propose  to  enter  into  the  details  of  their 
construction,  further  than  to  say  that 
when  finished  with  the  manure,  a  depth 
of  about  twelve  inches  of  fine  soil  should 
be  added,  the  surface  leveled,  the  sashes 
closed,  and  after  being  covered  with  straw 
mats,  the  bed  should  thus  remain  for  ten 
days  before  a  particle  of  seed  is  sown.  The 
object  of  this  plan  is  to  raise  a  full  crop  of 
weeds,  which  at  the  expiration  of  the  ten 
days  may  be  all  destroyed,  and  the  soil  be 
thus  left  clean  for  the  crop  of  plants.  Those 


32  CELERY. 

who  neglect  this  precaution  suffer  the  pe- 
nalty. Their  tender,  slow  growing,  young 
celery  plants  are  choked  with  the  more 
vigorous  weeds ;  or  the  weeds  are  removed 
at  the  cost  of  great  labor  and  expense. 

The  bed  being  now  thoroughly  cleansed 
of  weeds,  it  should  be  dug  over  and  raked, 
and  a  slope  given  to  the  surface  corre- 
sponding to  that  of  the  glass  above.  To 
make  drills  for  the  seed,  take  a  slat  three 
inches  wide  and  of  the  desired  length,  and 
press  it  edgewise  into  the  soil  to  the 
depth  of  an  inch ;  making  the  depth 
uniform  throughout.  Thus  the  seed  being 
deposited  at  an  equal  depth  the  plants 
will  come  up  simultaneously,  and  be  of 
one  hight.  The  drills  should  be  six  inches 
apart.  The  old  plan,  it  will  be  recollected, 
is  to  make  the  drills  with  a  small  marker, 


CELERY.  33 

the  drawing  of  which  through  the  ground 
makes  a  bottom  of  unequal  depth ;  and 
some  seed  having  two  inches,  others  only 
a  half  inch  of  soil  over  them,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  sprouts  above  ground  is  very 
various.  By  the  plan  which  I  recommend, 
the  bottom  of  the  drill  is  not  only  level 
but  compact,  and  the  moisture  there 
retained,  not  only  makes  the  seeds  sprout 
sooner,  but  the  plants  more  healthy.  I 
need  scarcely  enlarge  upon  the  importance 
of  giving  to  plants  of  any  kind  a  good 
healthy  organism  at  their  very  start  in 
life.  For  surely  no  intelligent  man  need 
be  told  that  if  the  powers  of  our  plant 
be  enfeebled  when  they  should  be  most 
vigorous  the  damage  is  irreparable.  The 
delicate  cells  which  should  rapidly  elabor- 
ate its  food  are  imperfectly  formed,  and 
5 


34  CELERY. 

feeble,  and  the  roots,  few  in  number  and 
dwarfed  in  size,  are  unable  to  absorb  from 
the  soil  food  sufficient  for  a  vigorous 
growth.  It  is  as  if  we  ruined  the  consti- 
tution of  a  child  and  expected  him  to 
develop  into  a  healthy  man.  All  the 
efforts,  therefore,  of  the  gardener  should 
be  directed  to  giving  his  plants  a  sound 
organism  during  the  first  stages  of  its 
growth. 

By  leaving  the  hot-bed  unsown  for  ten 
days  we  gain  an  advantage  beyond  the 
eradication  of  weeds,  in  such  a  settling  of 
the  bed  that  when  the  seed  is  sown  the 
surface  does  not  crack  and  become  uneven. 


CELERY.  35 


WATERING  THE  BEDS. 

This  should  be  done  at  noon,  and  only 
cold  water  should  be  used.  As  soon  as  one 
bed  is  watered  close  it  up  tight,  and  then 
proceed  to  another,  and  so  on  in  succes- 
sion. By  thus  doing  the  moisture  in  the 
bed  will  be  evaporated  by  the  sun's  rays, 
and  deposit  on  the  glass  in  the  form  of  a 
dew,  thereby  not  only  forming  an  agree- 
able shade  to  the  plants,  but  giving  to 
them  by  degrees  a  shower  of  dew-drops  as 
they  most  need  it.  By  this  means  I 
escape  the  great  loss  of  having  my  plants 
"  damp-off77  at  the  root;  a  disaster  which 
too  often  overtakes  those  who  pursue  the 
old  method.  It  would  be  difficult,  I  fancy, 


36  CELERY. 

to  fairly  estimate  the  number  of  celery 
plants  thus  lost  every  year,  but  it  must 
be  set  down  at  many  millions.  Since 
using  my  plan  I  find  that  my  plants  make 
as  much  growth  in  one  day  as  I  formerly 
could  get  in  six,  and  the  risk  is  almost 
nothing.  Why  the  moisture  thus  con- 
denses may  be  easily  explained,  and  a 
single  illustration  will  suffice  to  make  my 
meaning  plain.  If  we  pour  ice-water  into 
a  tumbler,  in  a  room  the  temperature  of 
which  is  70  deg.  Fahr.,  beads  of  moisture 
will  at  once  collect  on  the  outside  of  the 
glass.  This  moisture  has  of  course  not 
oozed  through  the  glass,  but  been  forced 
to  separate  from  the  layers  of  atmosphere 
which  touch  the  cold  glass.  It  being  a 
fact  that  the  air  can  hold  more  water  in 
a  state  of  vapor  as  its  own  temperature 


CELERY.  37 

is  raised,  and  of  course  must  lose  it  when- 
ever that  temperature  is  suddenly  reduced. 
Thus  there  is  much  more  water  in  the  air 
at  noon  on  a  hot  July  day,  than  on  one  in 
November  when  we  can  scarcely  see  a 
dozen  rods  through  the  thick  mist.  Rain 
is  produced  in  this  manner,  by  the  sudden 
condensation  of  watery  vapor,  and  dew 
by  the  contact  of  warm  moisture-laden 
atmosphere  with  the  cold  ground. 

In  the  hot-bed  the  same  law  holds 
good.  The  moisture  which  we  have 
added  to  the  soil  is  heated  and  eva- 
porated by  the  heat  above  and  the  heat 
below,  and  as  the  glasses  of  the  sash  are 
several  degrees  cooler  than  itself  it  is 
forced  to  deposit  in  beads,  as  above 
stated. 


38  CELERY. 


AIRING  THE  PLANTS. 

Air  should  be  admitted  to  the  beds 
only  in  the  forenoon ;  unless  the  plants 
need  no  watering,  in  which  case  they 
may  be  aired  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
day.  Many  more  plants  are  destroyed  by 
giving  too  much,  than  by  too  little  air. 
The  glass  should  be  shaded  by  mats  in 
the  middle  of  the  day,  for  much  loss  is 
caused  by  a  wilting  of  celery  roots.  This, 
in  fact,  is  the  reason  why  so  many  plants 
run  to  seed  after  they  are  set  out,  and 
there  are  numbers  of  gardeners  who  can 
certify  to  losses  of  thousands  of  dollars 
from  this  accident  alone.  My  own  loss 
has  amounted  to  a  very  large  sum.  When 


CELERY.  39 

the  plant  wilts,  and  is  neglected  for  one 
or  more  days,  its  sap  becomes  unhealthy, 
and  in  extreme  cases  so  dries  out  that 
the  stalk  becomes  pithy,  like  the  bulb  of 
a  pithy  radish  or  turnip.  If  watered  it 
may  partially  revive,  but  it  can  never 
quite  recover  from  the  check  it  has  re- 
ceived. When  transplanted,  not  having 
strength  enough  for  a  reaction,  it  strikes 
fresh  root  and  shoots  up  in  a  desperate 
effort  of  nature,  and  is  ruined.  The 
plants  taken  from  the  foot  of  the  hot-bed 
perhaps  escape  running  to  seed,  but  those 
from  the  middle  and  upper  portions  fall 
victims  to  the  maltreatment  they  have 
received. 

By  shading  my  plants,  then,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  day  I  escape  the  wilting,  and 
still  have  the  needed  amount  of  moisture. 


40  CELERY. 

If  I  watered  them  to  avoid  the  wilting,  I 
should  produce  a  mildew,  and  the  plants 
would  "damp  off"  at  the  root.  Celery 
needs  but  little  water,  and  that  in  the 
form  of  dew.  Hot-beds  should  be  wa- 
tered at  the  upper  part  and  not  at  the 
lower,  otherwise  the  whole  crop  is  endan- 
gered. It  is  easy  to  know  from  their 
appearance  whether  the  plants  require 
watering,  for  in  such  case  their  leaves  are 
of  a  deeper  color,  and  smaller,  than  of 
those  which  do  not  need  it.  My  plan  is 
to  water  twice  a  week,  and  shade  the 
beds  when  the  sky  is  clearest ;  say  from 
10  A.  M.  to  4  P.  M. 

Gardeners  will  have  observed  that  in  a 
hot-bed,  the  plants  growing  in  the  shade 
of  a  cross-bar  of  the  sash  are  invariably 
healthy.  They  are  worth  much  more 


CELERY.  41 

than  the  unshaded  plants,  for  they  thrive 
better  in  the  field,  and  I  recommend  the 
application  of  this  principle  to  the  whole 
sash.  I  repeat  it,  it  is  in  vain  to  hope 
for  a  sound  saleable  crop  of  celery  from 
damaged  plants.  There  are  multitudes 
of  crops  of  celery  that  never  pay  for  the 
expense  of  their  production.  Some  allow 
their  plants  to  stand  too  thickly,  and 
thus  get  them  all  tops  and  no  bottoms. 
Others,  from  keeping  their  beds  too 
damp,  lose  their  crops  from  mildew ;  and 
each  of  a  host  of  others  suffers  his  espe- 
cial penalty  for  the  violation  of  some  law 
of  vegetable  growth. 


6 


42  CELERY. 


HOEING  THE  BEDS. 

This  must  be  done  only  when  the 
leaves  are  quite  dry,  or  the  plants  will  be 
stricken  with  rust.  Bust  I  suppose  to  be 
caused  by  the  formation  of  an  acid  in  the 
sap,  which  either  directly  or  indirectly 
starts  a  process  of  decomposition  in  the 
cells,  and  ultimately,  the  destruction  of 
the  plant. 


CELERY.  43 


TRANSPLANTING. 

The  removal  of  plants  from  the  hot- 
bed is  an  operation  which  requires  great 
care.  It  is  painful  to  see  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  performed  in  nine  cases  out  of 
every  ten.  The  delicate  rootlets  of  the 
young  plants  are  torn  from  their  resting 
places  as  if  they  were  of  no  value  what- 
ever, but  rather  useless  appendages  to  the 
stem  and  leaves  which  might  as  well  as 
not  be  dispensed  with.  The  bed  should 
be  well  watered  an  hour  before  the  plants 
are  to  be  removed,  for  they  are  thus  invi- 
gorated, like  the  man  who  lunches  before 
starting  on  a  journey,  the  soil  is  com- 
pacted about  the  roots,  and  we  are  ena- 


44  CELERY. 

bled  to  pull  out  only  those  of  good  shape 
and  equal  size.  If  the  bed  be  not  wa- 
tered, and  the  plants  are  dug  instead  of 
being  pulled,  we  not  only  get  them  in 
poorer  condition  for  transplanting,  but 
are  apt  to  get  a  mixture  of  sizes,  which 
gives  a  very  variable  crop,  one  which 
does  not  admit  of  one  system  of  treat- 
ment being  applied  to  the  whole  field.  If 
tall  and  short  plants  be  growing  together, 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  in  banking  the 
frame  to  the  required  height  we  should 
smother  the  latter,  and  hence  much  loss 
ensues.  It  is  such  an  easy  matter  to  have 
a  crop  of  equal  size  throughout,  by  sim- 
ply using  the  precautions  which  I  have 
detailed,  that  I  am  prompted  to  dwell 
thus  earnestly  upon  this  special  point. 
When  the  plants  are  allowed  to  stand 


CELERY.  45 

too  thickly  they  become  worthless  when 
they  have  gained  a  height  of  twelve 
inches  and  are  planted  out,  for  the  sun 
striking  them,  their  enfeebled  constitu- 
tions can  not  resist  its  heat,  and  they 
wilt  and  die.  I  have  always  found  that 
the  shorter  and  more  "  stocky'7  my  plants 
are,  the  stronger  they  are  in  the  root,  and 
thus  the  more  likely  to  make  vigorous 
stalks  and  retain  their  health. 

Celery  plants  should  never  be  topped 
before  transplanting.  Leaves  are  the 
lungs  of  the  plant  and  can  be  no  more 
dispensed  with  than  can  the  same 
organs  in  the  animal.  When  a  plant 
is  poor  and  spindling,  and  its  roots 
have  been  destroyed,  it  has  been  a  com- 
mon practice  to  attempt  to  counter- 
balance these  losses  by  topping  the  plant. 


46  CELERY. 

As  I  never  set  out  a  poor  plant  I  never 
resort  to  this  make-shift  expedient..  The 
comparitive  merits  of  the  two  plans  may 
readily  be  tested  by  planting  one  row  of 
celery  without  removing  the  tops,  and 
another  with  the  usual  treatment.  If  the 
superiority  of  the  former  practice  be  not 
made  manifest,  the  result  will  differ  from 
what  I  have  observed  on  my  own  farm. 
It  has  happened  to  me  to  raise  a  poor 
crop  more  than  once  after  having  taken 
every  precaution,  merely  because  I  topped 
my  plants.  Experience  has  taught  me 
these  practical  results,  and  experience  I 
have  always  thought  to  be  the  best 
teacher  one  can  have.  It  is  useless  for 
us  to  see  certain  results  transpiring  be- 
fore our  eyes  if  we  are  not  led  to  discover 
the  hidden  causes  at  work  to  produce 


CELERY.  47 

them.  Any  fool  can  see  that  he  is  losing 
his  crops  year  after  year.  The  wise  man 
learns  from  his  losses  how  to  prevent 
them. 


48  CELERY. 


PREPARING  THE  TRENCHES. 

Celery  can  be  raised  in  almost  every 
kind  of  soil ;  but  a  like  treatment  can  not 
be  given  to  all.  Those  who  fail  to  raise 
paying  crops  must  more  generally  ascribe 
the  result  to  their  careless  treatment  than 
to  the  nature  of  their  soil.  It  is  true  a 
sandy  loam,  or  a  spongy  muck  are  best 
adapted  to  the  celery  plant,  but  with  me 
any  kind  of  soil  will  answer.  If  I  have  a 
heavy  clay  loam  I  am  forced  to  use  extra 
precautions,  handling  it  only  when  almost 
dry;  whereas  with  a  light  sandy  loam 
like  the  greater  part  of  my  farm,  I  pay 
but  little  attention  to  this  matter. 

I  make  my  trenches  two  feet  deep   and 


CELERY.  49 

one  foot  wide.  Put  in  well-rotted  cattle 
or  hog  manure  to  a  depth  of  six  inches, 
and  cover  it  with  a  like  depth  of  soil 
taken  from  the  side  of  the  trench.  The 
two  layers  are  then  to  be  thoroughly  mixed, 
and  when  completed  the  bottom  instead 
of  being  left  flat  is  to  be  raked  so  as  to 
make  a  mound,  higher  in  the  middle  than 
at  the  sides.  The  plants  are  to  be  set 
twelve  inches  asunder.  The  trenches 
made  five  feet  apart.  The  objection  thus 
mounding  the  bottom  of  the  trench  is  that 
when  a  heavy  shower  falls  we  escape  a 
disaster  which  often  befalls  us  under  the 
flat  system,  viz  :  the  smothering  of  many 
plants  by  dirt  washed  from  the  banks  of 
the  ditch.  Some  more  hardy,  or  it  may  be 
less  thickly  covered  than  the  rest,  may 

struggle  through  to  the  surface,  but  the 
7 


50  CELERY. 

chances  are  doubtful.  If  the  plants  be 
set  at  the  center  of  the  mound  the  dirt 
washed  in  merely  fills  the  gutters  at 
either  side,  and  the  plants  are  left  un- 
harmed. I  have  myself  lost  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  celery  plants,  from  this 
smothering,  and  I  doubt  not  such  has  been 
the  experience  of  every  other  cultivator. 

The  trenches  should  be  prepared  only 
in  clear  weather  and  when  the  wind  is 
either  North  or  West,  for  under  such 
circumstances  the  soil  will  possess  its 
greatest  power  of  condensation,  and  the 
safety  of  the  crop  be  more  assured.  If, 
however,  the  ground  is  plowed  when  the 
wind  is  either  South  or  East  this  con- 
densing power  is  materially  lessened,  for 
the  soil  and  atmosphere  will  be  more  alike 
in  temperature,  and  as  a  natural  result 


CELERY.  51 

the  plants  not  receiving  sufficient  moisture 
from  the  air  must  be  watered  by  hand, 
and  will  require  to  be  shaded  as  well. 
This  is  all  a  useless  labor  and  expense, 
for  celery  cultivation  should  be  so  managed 
as  that  no  hand  watering  in  the  field 
should  ever  be  required.  The  practice 
besides  causing  expense  is  injurious,  for  it 
compacts  the  surface  of  the  soil  and  thus 
destroys  its  porosity.  It  makes  but  little 
difference  as  to  the  heat  of  the  day,  if  the 
celery  plants  are  set  out  soon  after  the 
ground  is  plowed,  for  the  cold  overturned 
soil  will  supply  abundance  of  moisture  to 
the  plants.  The  old  plan  is  to  prepare 
the  trenches  in  dry  weather,  and  im- 
mediately after  a  rain-fall  to  set  all 
hands  to  work  setting  the  plants.  This 
was  formerly  my  own  practice,  but  sad 


52  CELERY. 

experience  has  taught  me  better;  for 
while  it  is  true  I  caused  my  plants  to  take 
fresh  root,  I  did  enough  harm  to  the  soil 
to  almost  counterbalance  the  profits.  By 
testing  the  two  ways  in  conjunction  I 
found  that  the  plants  set  out  on  a  dry  day 
were  always  healthy  and  green,  while 
those  set  after  a  shower  became  compara- 
tively yellow  or  brownish  in  hue. 


CELERY.  53 


HOEING. 

By  the  usual  practice  a  crop  of  celery 
is  hoed  early  in  the  morning  without 
regard  to  the  state  of  the  soil  as  regards 
moisture,  and  with  no  reference  to  the 
direction  of  the  wind  at  the  time.  But 
what  is  the  penalty  of  such  practice  ?  That 
which  I  suffered  was  the  loss  of  thousands 
of  heads  of  celery ;  and  such  doubtless  is 
the  experience  of  others.  Not  suspecting 
the  real  cause  of  my  failures  I  tried  at 
great  cost  every  experiment  which  I  could 
devise,  and  at  last  was  rewarded  by  dis- 
covering how  to  ensure  a  healthy  crop. 
Now  I  never  hoe  my  celery  when  either 
the  leaves  are  wet  or  the  soil  is  damp, 


54  CELERY. 

I  wait  for  a  dry  soil  and  a  North  or  West 
wind.  Thus  the  plant  is  supplied  with 
moisture  by  the  process  of  condensation, 
and  is  not,  as  by  the  usual  practice  rusted 
from  the  disturbance  of  a  moist  ground. 

Celery  is  hoed  for  the  first  time  with 
two  objects  in  view ;  to  furnish  moisture 
to  the  crop,  and  to  cover  the  roots  with 
soil  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  being 
burnt  or  "  scalded'7  by  the  sun.  When  a 
plant  becomes  sun-burnt  it  rusts,  the 
stalks  crack  cross  wise,  the  tubes  which 
convey  the  sap  break  asunder,  and  the 
celery  becomes  bitter  to  the  taste.  This 
unfortunate  result  is  clearly  the  conse- 
quence of  neglect,  and  may  arise  from 
ignorance  or  carelessness. 

The  first  covering  should  be  of  not  more 
than  three  inches  of  soil  over  the  roots 


DISEASED  CELERY  PLANT 


CELERY.  55 

near  the  surface  which  put  out  laterally 
and  serve  as  feeders  to  the  plant.  Those 
which  strike  downward  supply  the  plant 
with  moisture,  an  office  which  is  also  per- 
formed by  the  leaves  at  night,  for  they 
condense  moisture  from  the  atmosphere 
under  favorable  conditions.  In  hoeing 
we  must  be  cautious  not  to  get  dirt  into 
the  heart  of  the  plants,  else  they  will  be 
destroyed  as  surely  as  if  overtaken  by  a 
flood.  The  heart  of  the  celery  plant  must 
be  allowed  when  young  to  have  an 
abundance  of  air ;  many  plants  are  lost 
from  being  banked,  when  they  should  only 
be  hoed  about  to  kill  the  weeds,  and  by 
stirring  the  soil  furnish  moisture.  This 
stirring  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in 
dry  weather,  for  if  the  plants  are  once 
suffered  to  wilt  there  is  danger  of  losing 


56  CELERY. 

the  whole  crop.  Deprived  of  its  regular 
nutriment  by  being  deprived  of  moisture 
in  suitable  condition,  the  stalks  of  celery 
become  bitter  and  consequently  unhealthy. 
For  this  reason  there  is  but  little  sweet 
celery  to  be  found  in  market  in  Summer, 
whereas  if  only  proper  precautions  were 
used  an  abundant  supply  could  be  had 
throughout  the  entire  season.  So  little 
indeed  have  gardeners  been  able  to  grow 
a  crop  of  good  quality  for  Summer  use 
that  a  popular  superstition  has  arisen 
that  celery  is  not  fit  to  eat  before  the  first 
frost.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  truth  in 
this  assertion,  as  the  Summer  guests  of 
the  Delavan  House  can  abundantly  tes- 
tify. It  has  resulted  from  the  fact,  that 
in  the  fall  months  we  have  no  drouth,  and 
the  crop  once  safely  past  the  Summer  and 


CELERY.  57 

left  to  shift  for  itself  a  healthy  growth  is 
more  possible.  My  plants  are  taken  care 
of  during  the  Summer  heats,  when  they 
need  attention  most,  and  not  being  suffered 
to  wilt,  I  am  rewarded  by  a  good  healthy 
crop.  Celery  must  be  planted  in  a  cool 
and  rather  damp  place,  but  it  can  not 
withstand  any  excess  of  wet,  and  should 
never  be  planted  where  water  would  stand 
in  a  ditch  dug  to  a  depth  of  four  feet. 


8 


58  CELERY. 


BANKING. 

This,  by  the  majority  of  gardeners,  is 
done  every  few  days.  They  commence  to 
bank  up  when  the  plants  have  only 
three  or  four  stalks,  which  is  a  fatal  mis- 
take. By  their  kindness  to  the  plant 
they  are  apt  to  ruin  it,  and  instead  of 
helping,  hinder  its  growth.  So  much  for 
not  understanding  the  habits  of  the  plant. 
Beside,  there  is  no  need  of  all  this  labor 
and  expense,  and  hence  it  is  so  much 
sheer  waste  of  capital.  My  rule  is  to 
first  aim  at  getting  a  large  root,  and  then 
wait  for  the  plant  to  get  ten  stalks,  the 


CELERY.  59 

tallest  eighteen  inches  in  height.  By  get- 
ting a  large  root  the  plant  gives  me  larger 
stalks,  and  three  or  four  at  a  time ; 
whereas,  by  the  old  plan  of  hilling,  this 
hardy  growth  is  prevented,  but  one  stalk 
is  produced  at  a  time,  and  that  a  small 
one.  Another  reason  for  deferring  the 
first  banking  up  until  the  ten  long  stalks 
are  put  forth,  is,  that  the  outer  ones  form 
around  the  heart  a  complete  curb,  or 
fence,  against  the  access  of  soil,  which 
would  produce  rust  and  make  my  crop 
like  that  of  a  thousand  other  gardeners. 
Besides,  I  give  the  plant  as  much  greater 
ability  to  collect  moisture  for  its  use  as 
ten  stalks  are  a  greater  number  than 
three  or  four,  and  by  so  much  diminish 
the  liability  to  turn  bitter.  I  can  not 
urge  too  strongly  this  having  a  number 


DO  CELERY. 

of  outer  stalks  to  form  a  curb  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  heart,  for  it  is  impossible  to 
prevent  rust  if  dirt  once  enters,  and  by 
my  plan  the  protection  is  effectual,  the 
outer  stalks  alone  being  injured  by  the 
soil.  These  are  always  to  be  removed 
before  placing  the  vegetable  upon  the 
dinner-table. 

It  is  currently  believed  that  celery 
stalks  can  be  blanched  by  banking  after 
they  have  become  green,  and  to  save  all 
these  green  stalks,  gardeners  commence  to 
bank  up  when  barely  a  single  stalk  has 
grown,  and  continue  it  from  time  to 
time  at  short  intervals.  By  so  doing  they 
do  nothing  to  keep  the  dirt  from  the 
heart,  leaving  its  preservation  to  the 
merest  chance. 

I  aim  to  get  not  only  large  tops  and 


CELERY.  61 

abundance  of  stalks,  but  a  good  stout  bot- 
tom. Those  who  pursue  the  old  method 
get  a  small  root,  and  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, small,  feeble  stalks.  The  result 
which  I  have  at  last  obtained  is,  to  raise 
celery  which  does  not  rust,  is  neither 
pithy  nor  stringy,  and  to  have  an  average 
crop  of  large  heads,  the  stalks  of  which 
will  be  as  white  and  clean  as  a  sperm 
candle.  Moreover,  I  have  to  expend  but 
half  the  labor  and  money  on  the  crop  that 
I  formerly  did,  and  thus  make  it  a  very 
profitable  business.  Formerly  the  losses 
were  so  great  that  the  crop  seldom  paid 
for  raising,  for  if,  perchance,  I  succeeded 
in  getting  a  fair  crop,  I  lost  it  all  after  it 
was  harvested,  from  ignorance  of  the 
method  for  preserving  it  from  rotting.  I 


62  CELERY. 

would  have  every  gardener  study  the  na- 
ture of  the  plant  for  himself,  and  not  rely 
wholly  on  what  I  or  any  other  man  may 
say;  for  with  ever  so  good  a  hand-book, 
the  cultivator  will  never  get  the  mastery 
over  the  crop  so  as  to  handle  it  with  a  cer- 
tainty of  profit,  unless  he  study  it  in  con- 
nexion with  his  own  practical  experience. 
Celery  is  absolutely  one  of  the  easiest 
vegetables  to  raise,  and  the  expense  of  its 
production  should  almost  never  exceed 
one  cent  per  head. 

My  celery  is  banked  twice  only.  The 
first  time  is,  as  I  said  before,  when  it  has 
grown  to  a  height  of  eighteen  inches,  and 
I  then  bank  up  to  the  first  outside  leaf, 
measuring  from  the  root  upward.  This 
leaf  is  the  mark  to  work  by,  for  if  dirt  be 


CELERY.  63 

put  above  this  point  the  celery  is  apt  to 
decay  at  the  heart,  as  the  loss  of  full  half 
a  crop  has  often  taught  to  its  cultivators. 
Before  banking,  the  soil  between  the  rows 
should  either  be  cultivated  or  hand-hoed, 
to  destroy  any  weeds  that  may  be  grow- 
ing. This  should  only  be  done  on  a  clear 
day,  for  otherwise  the  soil  is  apt  to  be  too 
damp,  and  if  any  of  it  comes  in  contact 
with  the  heart  will  produce  decay.  This 
decay  commences  at  the  heart  leaves,  and 
may  be  known  by  their  appearing  as  if 
dipped  in  dirty  water.  From  the  leaves  it 
extends  downward  as  far  as  the  root,  and 
the  loss  of  the  whole  plant  ensues. 

The  second  banking  is  done  when  the 
heart  has  grown  up  even  with  the  outside 
leaves,  and  should  then  be  done  so  that 
the  whole  plant  is  banked  to  a  height  of 


64:  CELERY. 

two  feet.  As  soon  after  this  as  the  heart 
has  grown  up  above  the  outer  leaves  the 
celery  will  be  ready  for  the  table;  the 
whole  period  from  the  first  banking  being 
but  four  weeks  in  all.  By  the  old  plan  it 
requires  three  months  to  get  it  three  feet 
high,  and  for  this  reason  it  becomes  tough 
and  stringy,  sometimes  pithy  and  rusty, 
and  in  any  case  unmarketable.  By  my 
plan  all  rust,  pith,  stringiness,  and  tough- 
ness is  escaped,  and  the  plant  is  made 
sweet,  crisp,  tender,  and  palatable. 

I  observe  the  rule  of  never  hilling 
celery  until  about  four  weeks  before  it  is 
required  for  the  table,  and  thus  am  ena- 
bled to  blanch  it  only  as  needed  for  use. 
If  I  need  a  thousand  heads  a  day  through 
October,  I  hill  that  number  each  day 
throughout  July,  and  so  with  other 


CELERY.  65 

months.  If  an  excessive  quantity  beyond 
what  you  need  for  consumption  is 
blanched,  it  is  liable  to  spoil. 


66  CELERY. 


DIGGING  THE  CROP. 

This  operation,  which  should  be  per- 
formed with  great  care,  is  too  often  so 
managed  as  to  spoil  the  crop  produced 
with  the  greatest  care.  If  dug  up  and 
suffered  to  lie  exposed  to  the  sun,  it  wilts 
and  becomes  green  and  pithy.  It  is  also 
liable  to  become  as  rank  and  strong  fla- 
vored in  the  stalk  as  in  the  leaves.  For 
this  reason,  celery  after  being  dug,  should 
be  exposed  to  the  light  as  little  as  possi- 
ble, for  every  hour  of  unnecessary  expo- 
sure will  reduce  its  quality  in  a  material 
degree. 


CELERY.  67 


PREPARING  FOR  USE. 

When  dressed  for  the  table,  care  should 
be  taken  to  have  the  water  perfectly 
clean,  for  otherwise  the  celery  will  be 
stained,  and  can  never  be  made  to  look 
as  well  afterward.  After  the  celery  is  all 
washed  and  bunched,  it  should  be  placed 
in  a  tight  barrel,  standing  upright  and 
on  its  roots.  Then  pour  in  water  to  the 
depth  of  two  inches,  which  will  effectually 
prevent  it  from  wilting  or  becoming  pithy. 
In  this  state  it  will  grow  as  if  still  in  the 
ground.  The  mouth  of  the  barrel  should 
be  covered  with  a  cloth  thick  enough  to 
exclude  the  light,  and  the  barrel  should 


bO  CELERY. 

be  set  in  a  cool  place  until  the  celery  is 
wanted  for  use.  These  simple  practical 
directions  are  but  little  observed,  and 
herein  we  have  the  reason  for  our  seeing 
so  much  inferior  celery  in  the  public  mar- 
kets. When  celery  is  purchased  in  market 
for  family  use,  it  should  be  sent  home 
wrapped  in  a  cloth,  or  thick  paper,  and 
at  once  put  in  a  cool  place,  or  into  cold 
water,  where  it  should  remain  until  pre- 
pared for  dinner.  To  prepare  it,  remove 
all  the  outside  stalks  which  are  not  good 
to  eat,  and  so  trim  the  root  that  the  outer 
portion,  or  corky  bark,  is  all  removed. 
Then  cut  the  head  in  such  a  way  that 
each  stalk  shall  be  attached  to  a  portion 
of  root,  for  thus  each  will  be  furnished 
with  a  portion  of  sap  until  eaten.  Celery 
should  not  be  put  on  the  table  until  a  few 


CELERY.  69 

minutes  before  it  is  to  be  used.  By  this 
means  the  stalks  will  retain  all  that  deli- 
cate flavor  which  they  receive  from  the 
root. 


WINTER  CELERY. 


WINTEE     CELERY 


PREPARING  THE  GROUND. 

The  land  chosen  for  Fall  or  Winter 
celery  should  if  possible  be  a  sandy  loam, 
the  location  warm  but  with  a  cool  bottom, 
and  if  underdrained  so  much  the  better. 
It  will  be  understood  from  what  has  pre- 
ceded that  standing  water  at  the  root  of 
celery  plants  is  very  injurious,  and  the 
question  as  to  the  necessity  or  profit  of 
underdraining,  naturally  suggests  itself. 
If  a  man  possesses  a  soil  which  is  un- 
derlaid by  an  open  gravelly  bottom,  it 
10 


74  CELERY. 

is  probable  that  his  drainage  would  be 
naturally  perfect,  and  he  would  be  foolish 
to  lay  out  capital  in  underdraining.  My 
own  farm  is  a  light  sandy  loam  and  so 
well  drained  naturally  that  I  can  work  it 
at  almost  any  time.  But  on  wet  clays,  or 
heavy  clay  loams  the  celery  grower  is 
forced  to  drain,  or  risk  the  loss  of  his 
crop.  Supposing  this  matter  attended 
to: 

The  ground  should  be  prepared  in  the 
Fall  by  application  of  a  good  coat  of  cat- 
tle or  hog  manure,  plowed  or  dug  under. 
The  land  should  be  laid  up  in  beds  about 
eight  feet  wide  with  deep  water  furrows, 
that  it  may  be  worked  earlier  in  Spring. 
As  soon  as  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground 
and  the  ground  has  dried,  it  should  be 
plowed.  A  clear  day  should  be  chosen, 


CELERY.  75 

and  the  ground  should  be  laid  out  in 
beds  eight  feet  wide,  and  as  long  as 
required. 


76  CELERY. 


SOWING  AND  HOEING. 

To  make  the  drills,  take  a  board  four 
inches  wide  and  ten  feet  long  (the  extra 
two  feet  beyond  the  width  of  the  bed 
being  intended  to  serve  as  handles),  and 
two  men,  at  opposite  sides  of  the  bed, 
press  the  board  edgewise  into  the  ground 
to  the  depth  of  an  inch.  The  edge  of  the 
board  is  not  to  be  made  sharp.  The 
drills  are  to  be  made  a  foot  apart.  Cover 
the  seed  as  fast  as  sown,  and  when  the 
whole  bed  is  finished  give  it  a  light  roll- 
ing. By  so  doing  the  plants  will  come 
up  alike,  as  heretofore  described.  The 
sprouts  will  come  above  ground  in  about 
fourteen  days.  At  the  first  hoeing  thin 


CELERY.  77 

the  plants  so  that  they  will  stand  at  about 
half  an  inch  apart.  The  greatest  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  hoe  the  crop  while 
the  dew  is  on,  for  otherwise  it  will  be 
liable  to  be  stricken  with  rust.  These 
plants  will  be  ready  for  setting  out  in 
June  or  early  July.  They  should  be  hoed 
only  in  case  of  weeds,  or  if  they  require 
water,  and  then  it  should  only  be  done 
when  the  wind  is  Northerly  or  Westerly. 
The  trenches  for  Winter  celery  are  to  be 
made  as  for  the  Summer  crop.  All 
celery  in  the  Fall  that  has  not  been 
banked  when  the  first  heavy  frost  ap- 
pears, should  be  so  treated  at  once  to 
prevent  the  frost  from  destroying  it,  as 
the  soil  is  too  warm  to  admit  of  its  being 
transplanted  for  winter  use. 

Care  should  be  used  against  burying 


78  CELERY. 

celery  too  soon,  else  it  will  strike  fresh 
root  and  get  ready  for  market  before  it  is 
wanted. 


CELERY.  79 


HOW  AND  WHERE  TO  BURY. 

The  spot  chosen  for  burying  the  winter 
celery  must  be  the  COLDEST  on  the  farm. 
The  North  side  of  a  hill,  where  the  soil  is 
perfectly  drained,  is  best.  Whenever  pos- 
sible, the  cultivator  should  manage  to 
give  to  his  ground  a  slope  of  one  foot  in 
four,  the  better  to  ensure  perfect  drain- 
age, and  to  give  an  equal  Northern  ex- 
posure to  his  buried  crop.  A  reference  to 
fig.  4  will  explain  the  appearance  of  the 
hill  side  when  so  graded.  Stretch  a  gar- 
den line  from  North  to  South,  and  dig 
the  trench  on  the  East  side  of  it,  two  feet 
deep  and  one  foot  wide,  throwing  the  dirt 
to  the  West  side.  This  will  raise  the 


80  CELERY. 

ground  a  foot  higher,  and  make  the  whole 
height  from  the  bottom  of  the  trench 
three  feet.  Level  the  top  of  the  bank, 
and  cut  it  down  perpendicularly.  The 
celery  for  these  trenches  should  not  be 
dug  unless  the  leaves  are  perfectly  dry. 
The  dirt  should  be  left  on  the  roots  as 
much  as  possible,  and  the  heads  are  to  be 
laid  in  a  row  to  dry  those  leaves  that 
were  in  the  soil ;  but  be  careful  not  to 
expose  them  so  long  that  they  will  com- 
mence to  wilt.  When  they  have  dried 
enough  carry  them  to  the  trench,  and 
taking  one  head  at  a  time,  set  it  against 
the  perpendicular  side  of  the  trench,  roots 
downward,  so  that  the  tops  of  the  leaves 
will  be  two  inches  higher  than  the  top  of 
the  bank.  Take  the  earth  from  the  East- 
erly side,  and  tread  the  first  six  inches 


CELERY.  81 

about  the  roots  to  set  them  firmly  and 
encourage  the  putting  forth  of  new  roots. 
The  rest  of  the  way  up  the  stalk  the  soil 
should  be  laid  in  loosely,  and  not  pressed 
tight  against  the  celery.  If  some  of  the 
heads  are  only  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches 
high  they  must  be  so  mixed  in  and  over- 
lapped by  the  adjoining  heads  that  they 
will  be  protected  from  smothering  when 
the  dirt  is  thrown  in.  When  the  trench 
is  all  filled  with  celery,  and  the  lower  six 
inches  of  soil  are  packed  against  the  roots, 
the  rest  of  the  dirt  may  be  banked  in  on 
the  East  side  to  within  two  inches  of  the 
top  of  the  plants,  as  on  the  other  side. 
Care  must  be  taken  in  banking  that  none 
of  the  stalks  are  bent  out  of  the  per- 
pendicular. 

11 


82  CELERY. 

The  next  trench  is  to  be  made  not 
nearer  than  a  foot  from  the  first.  The 
ground  is  to  be  leveled,  the  line  stretched, 
and  the  trench  made  as  before.  The 
foot-wide  space  between  trenches  is 
needed  to  keep  each  row  of  celery  cool. 
In  light  soil,  such  as  mine,  the  second 
trench  must  be  made  only  as  fast  as  the 
celery  can  be  buried,  else  the  bank  will 
cave  in.  I  keep  on  in  this  way  until  I 

have  six  trenches  of  celery,  and  this  bed  I 

^* 

make  the  planting  for  first  use. 

Usually,  the  warmest  place  is  chosen 
for  the  celery  pits  instead  of  the  coldest. 
By  this  sad  mistake  I  have  lost  thousands 
of  heads,  for  as  soon  as  a  thaw  came,  the 
celery  would  start  to  grow,  and  ripening 
before  needed  for  use,  decayed.  It  is 


CELERY.  83 

easy  to  make  it  grow,  but  hard  to  check 
it  if  once  started.  "  Whereas,  on  the 
North  side  of  a  hill  I  can  control  its 
growth  to  my  liking,  and  still  protect  it 
against  freezing  and  thawing  by  a  proper 
covering. 

There  are  three  errors  into  which  celery- 
growers  fall.  First :  digging  it  up  and 
burying  it  with  the  leaves  damp,  thus 
causing  mildew,  decay,  and  death.  Se- 
cond :  knocking  the  dirt  from  the  roots, 
and  thus  leaving  them  to  wilt  and  become 
pithy,  while  the  leaves  are  drying ;  the 
consequence  of  which  is  that  when  put 
into  trench  the  stalks  become  pithy  also, 
before  the  enfeebled  root  has  a  chance  to 
strike  fresh  rootlets  to  supply  them  with 
sap.  Third :  burying  their  Winter  celery 
in  damp  ground,  where  there  is  no  under 


84  CELERY. 

drain;  in  which  case  the  roots  become 
saturated  with  water,  vegetation  ceases, 
and  the  roots  become  black  and  decay. 


CELERY.  85 


COVERING  FOR  WINTER. 


The  beds  being  all  filled  prepare  the 
covering,  which  may  be  either  rye,  or 
buckwheat,  straw.  If  the  former  be  used 
it  should  be  well  broken  up  to  prevent  it 
from  lying  smooth  on  the  bed — a  most 
important  point.  This  covering  may  be 
put  on  the  bed  which  is  to  be  first  used, 
when  the  ground  has  frozen  three  inches ; 
on  the  second  when  frozen  four  inches ; 
on  the  third  when  six  inches;  on  the 
fifth  eight  inches ;  and  on  the  last  when 
frozen  twelve  inches.  The  first  bed  is 
frozen  three  inches  only  that  it  may  be 
ready  for  market  in  four  weeks  from  the 


86  CELERY. 

time  of  burying,  and  the  other  depths  will 
ripen  a  regular  succession  of  beds  as 
wanted  one  after  another. 

The  covering  is  put  on  for  two  reasons : 
to  keep  out  the  frost;  and  to  keep  in 
what  we  have  already  suffered  to  enter 
for  our  own  purposes.  For  this  reason,  if 
I  had  placed  my  bed  in  a  warm  situation, 
the  ground  not  freezing  there  as  soon  as  it 
does  on  the  North  side  of  a  hill,  the  celery 
would  have  taken  fresh  root,  and  have 
grown  before  it  could  have  been  checked. 
My  readers  cannot  fail  to  see  the  import- 
ance of  controlling  the  maturity  of  celery 
so  as  to  make  it  accommodate  itself  to 
their  convenience,  a  result  which  is  quite 
within  their  power  if  the  frost  be  allowed 
to  enter  in  turn  to  the  several  depths 
above  mentioned.  Since  adopting  this 


CELERY.  87 

practice  I  find  no  trouble  in  having  celery 
as  white  and  perfect  in  January  as  in 
April ;  whereas  when  if  all  my  beds  were 
covered  at  the  same  time  as  the  first, 
that  is  when  the  frost  had  entered  but 
three  inches,  I  should  find  in  Spring  that 
the  bed  to  be  last  used  would  have  either 
all  run  to  seed  or  decayed. 

The  covering  of  straw  is  to  be  two  feet 
thick,  and  increased  as  the  weather  grows 
colder.  If  there  should  chance  to  be  a 
fall  of  snow  that  must  be  covered  also, 
to  prevent  its  melting.  By  so  covering  it 
a  solid  body  of  ice  will  be  formed,  and 
the  protection  of  your  celery  be  increased. 

These  Winter  beds  are  often  covered 
with  a  layer  of  fresh  horse  manure,  which 
is  a  practice  that  can  not  be  too  strongly 
condemned.  For,  as  soon  as  a  thaw  sets 


88  CELERY. 

in  the  strength  of  the  dung,  comprising 
the  soluble  and  most  powerful  portions, 
leaches  downward,  stains  the  celery,  and 
creates  a  sort  of  brown  rust  which  mars 
the  beauty  of  the  plant,  and  of  course 
greatly  impairs  its  flavor.  In  a  stroll 
through  the  New  York  markets,  a  few 
days  since,  I  saw  quantities  of  celery 
exposed  for  sale,  which  had  undoubtedly 
been  thus  injured.  This  plan  of  covering 
with  horse-dung  has  arisen  from  the  same 
fallacious  idea  as  the  choice  of  a  Southern 
aspect  for  the  Winter  beds,  and  is  almost 
as  productive  of  loss  to  the  gardener. 
Besides  which  it  forces  unsuspecting 
purchasers  to  eat  in  their  ignorance  food 
flavored  in  a  manner  that  would  and 
should  create  absolute  nausea,  if  the  truth 
were  known.  If  the  use  of  this  sub- 


CELERY.  89 

stance  as  a  covering  were  at  all  necessary 
I  should  touch  but  lightly  upon  it,  but 
as  it  most  emphatically  is  not,  I  protest 
against  it  as  a  disgusting  imposition 
upon  the  consumer,  as  well  as  a  serious 
loss  to  the  producer  himself.  No  man 
would  be  so  insane  as  to  bury  his  Winter 
potatoes  or  turnips  in  this  substance, 
under  the  plea  that  his  cellar  was  not 
frost-proof.  Why  then  should  he  "pro- 
tect" celery,  a  vegetable  of  much  more 
delicate  flavor  and  texture  than  either, 
by  placing  above  it,  a  thick  layer  of 
manure,  which  contains  a  large  amount 
of  substance  ready  to  be  washed  down- 
ward by  the  first  rain ! 


90  CELERY. 


DIGGING  FOR  USE. 


This  can  be  done  on  any  day,  no  mat- 
ter how  cold  the  air  may  be.  Care  must 
be  taken,  however,  to  place  it  in  a  blanket 
as  it  is  dug  to  prevent  its  freezing ;  for  if 
once  frozen  it  can  never  be  restored  to 
soundness  again.  This  precaution  is  sel- 
dom taken,  and  the  natural  consequence 
is  much  damaged  celery.'  It  does  not 
need  that  I  should  again  describe  the 
process  of  washing  and  preparing  celery 
for  the  table;  but  I  wish  to  say  a  few 
words  in  regard  to  sending  it  home  from 


CELERY.  91 

market,  and  my  city  readers  will  do  well 
to  note  them. 

It  is  frequently  the  case  that  although 
one  may  select  the  very  finest  of  bunches 
in  market,  they  become  spoilt  before  the 
purchaser  is  ready  to  eat  them.  This 
results  from  either  being  too  much  ex- 
posed to  the  light,  or  from  being  frozen. 
Of  course  it  will  be  understood  that  these 
two  evils  should  be  guarded  against,  and 
the  celery,  instead  of  being  hung  up  at 
the  stands  of  the  marketmen,  and  sent  to 
the  purchaser  quite  unprotected,  should 
be  covered  with  a  thick  damp  cloth,  both 
in  the  market  and  when  being  sent  home. 
How  it  should  be  treated  after  reaching 
there  I  have  already  described. 

Thus,  in  detail,  have  I  described  the 


92  CELERY. 

treatment  of  this  most  profitable  crop,  as 
practiced  by  myself,  after  many  years  of 
practical  experiment.  Of  the  importance 
of  the  suggestions  herein  contained  some 
idea  can  be  had,  when  we  consider  that 
there  are  sold  in  the  City  of  New  York 
alone,  several  millions  of  bunches  every 
year,  and  its  consumption  is  constantly 
on  the  increase.  That  it  has,  in  some 
measure,  been  regarded  as  an  article  of 
luxury  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  poor, 
is  simply  due  to  the  uncertainty  which 
has  attended  its  cultivation.  I  do  not 
doubt,  in  fact  I  know  from  personal  expe- 
rience, that  sometimes,  with  even  the 
highest  market  prices,  celery  culture  has 
not  paid  its  bare  expenses.  This  is  an 
entirely  unnecessary  state  of  things,  and 
I  confidently  assert  that  if  gardeners  will 


CELERY.  93 

fairly  follow  the  directions  laid  down  in 
this  unpretentious  little  treatise,  they 
will  find  celery  fully  as  certain  a  crop  as 
turnips  or  potatoes,  and  more  profitable 
than  either. 


OTHER    HAND-BOOKS. 


OTHER   HAND-BOOKS. 


I  propose  to  publish,  at  intervals,  as  my 
onerous  engagements  may  permit,  Hand- 
Books  on  other  culinary  Vegetables,  each 
of  which  will  contain  facts  of  value,  the 
result  of  my  own  experience.  Those 
which  I  now  have  in  view  are  treatises 
on: 

POTATOES. 

How  to  raise  a  healthy  Potato  crop  without 
rot. — The  three  different  kinds  of  rot, 
attacking  the  root  and  stalk  shall  be 

described,  and  my  mode  of  avoiding  them 
13 


98  OTHER    HAND-BOOKS. 

be  given.  I  will  describe  the  mode  of 
keeping  Potatoes  through  the  Winter 
without  sprouting,  and  without  impair- 
ing their  flavor.  Also,  where  and  how  to 
plant  them ;  how  much  and  what  manure 
they  need ;  whether  and  when  to  use,  cut 
or  whole  seed ;  how  many  eyes  should  be 
left  on  a  set;  and  other  particulars. 

CORN. 

How  to  raise  a  large  crop  of  Sweet,  Yellow, 
or  other  kind  of  Corn  every  year,  without 
having  it  stricken  with  rust  or  any  other 
disease;  how  and  when  to  plow;  to 
plant  so  as  to  make  the  plants  come  up 
evenly ;  to  manure ;  to  hoe  for  the  first 
time ;  to  cultivate ;  to  hill ;  to  supply 
the  crop  with  moisture  in  severe  drouths 
without  hand  watering;  to  cure  so  as  to 


OTHER   HAND-BOOKS.  99 

best  ensure  ripening;    and  to  keep  the 
stalks  throughout  Winter. 

CAULIFLOWERS. 

How  to  raise  Cauliflowers  so  that  they 
will  all  head;  how  to  prevent  their 
running  to  seed;  to  preserve  the  root 
against  maggots ;  to  prevent  clump-foot ; 
and  how  to  keep  them  through  the  Winter 
without  rotting. 

CABBAGE. 

How  to  raise  any  kind  of  Cabbage,  in 
hot-beds  or  the  field,  without  having 
them  "damp-off"  or  become  clump-footed; 
how  to  prevent  injury  from  maggots,  lice, 
or  other  insects;  to  prepare  the  soil; 
manure;  cultivate,  harvest,  and  preserve 
the  crop. 


100  OTHER  HAND-BOOKS. 

TURNIPS. 

How  to  raise  Early  Turnips,  perfectly 
clear,  and  free  from  maggots.  The  soil, 
culture,  and  treatment  to  give  them,  and 
how  to  best  keep  them  over  Winter. 


In  like  manner  I  propose  to  treat  the 
Carrot,  Beet,  Parsnip,  Eadish,  Onion, 
Cucumber,  Melon,  Squash,  and  the  other 
Vegetables  in  turn. 


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